I - Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey: thing, sport

I started playing Ice Hockey when I was 4 or 5. I was never very good at it, despite it being in my genes, with both my Dad and my maternal Grandpa playing at the collegiate level. I remember learning to skate pushing a chair, and I remember fondly being out on the ice and going to weekend tournaments (whether I liked it back then, I don't remember). The first team I played for was Wheeler. Our colors were blue and red. I cried until I wet my pants and had to go home when I got my first penalty in Squirt-D (because I didn't do anything wrong! I slipped and my skate hit the other kid's skate. It was ice. Ice is slippery and 5 year olds have no balance). I remember also being so proud that I used a skill that we did in practice in a game. I couldn't figure out why the coaches weren't happy that, when a puck came at me, I effortlessly lifted one foot to glide on one skate and let the puck go under it just like we did for 10 minutes at the practice.

I remember switching to the Piedmont team (Yellow and Blue) for my last two seasons, but I don't remember why. I liked playing on that team, and I think I even scored some goals (okay, so I know that I had 7 goals in my entire official hockey career (and a shut-out, but it was a squirt-d game where everyone took turns being goalie and there were not even pads)). The thing that I liked the most about hockey was being on a team with my friends and getting to play outside, or run around in the arenas. I also remember family fans, and the little yarn pom-pom decorations that the mom's would wear. My grandpa offered to pay 1$ for a goal and .50c for an assist, but I didn't want him to waste his retirement fund on me, so I made sure he didn't have to pay out too often.

In 5th grade I quit hockey because my best friend did and we took up skiing. I don't remember the exact specifics, but I have a feeling it had to do with the fact that in Minnesota they know where you're going to end-up hockeywise by the time you're 5 or 6. I was never going to amount to anything so it was time to be shunted off into permanent rec-league status, while many of my friends would have gotten to be on the coveted "Traveling Teams" and have important tournaments and rigorous practices, and summer hockey. In essence I'd lose what I loved most about hockey, skating and having fun with my friends. I honestly don't remember the win-loss outcome of any game I played, but I remember playing pretty vividly.

I was kind of anti-hockey for awhile (because skiing was king). I got back into it when I moved in 7th grade, mostly from playing NHLPA 93 on my neighbor's SEGA Genesis (go Jagr, go Penguins). Of course I got NHL 94 for SNES (best sports game of all time). Moving also meant living in the Duluth East High School district. The hockey team there was the best in the state for the 4 years I attended (4 trips to the big show, 1 championship, 2nd place, 3rd place and they won it again the year after I graduated), and as a band member, I went to all of them. The East Pep-Band years are their own story, but it was awesome.

In college I considered playing club hockey, but some of the guys on the team (not most of them - really only one) were jerks to me at the one practice I went to (also I had no real equipment, aside from the stuff I borrowed from my dad, and I wasn't good enough to keep up). Instead I just skated on the Bald Spot in the winter (and made a very good friend from doing that), and tried to play Intramural and pick-up when it happened.

I wish that I had played more Pond Hockey when I was younger, but I try to make up for it when I'm home now

Now, in Maryland, I'm the assistant coach of our JV Ice Hockey team (we don't have a varsity), which makes me laugh a little bit, because I'm not even qualified to coach rec hockey in Minnesota. We've one some JV championships, and had teams with boys (and girls) ranging from literal non-skater to guys that went on to play Junior Hockey in Canada. It's an awesome experience, and I think I enjoy it the most because I get to skate and play at our weekly practice (yes, 1 per week), even if I have to drive the bus. It's never a dull team, to watch or coach, and we have awesome fans.

I still use the shin guards that I stole from my Dad that are likely older than I am.

F - Field Hockey

Field Hockey: thing, sport

I never would've been involved in field hockey if I'd been a better trumpet player.

I first encountered field hockey while I was in Bangor, Wales in 1999. I was a bit confused reading the literature for University of North Wales, Bangor when it said that their Mens' Hockey team was some sort of champion, since, to Me, as a Minnesotan, Hockey means Ice Hockey. I almost considered bringing my skates with me.

One of the girls that lived in my corridor was a goalie for the Womens' team, and I went and watched a practice (and also went out with the team afterward). I didnt' understand anything about the sport, other than I thought that it was unfair to lefties that you could only hold the stick right handed.

At the beginning of my senior year of college there were a number of talented Freshman trumpet players. This meant that Jazz band actually held audtions, which meant that I, as a not-so great trumpet player, had some free time fall term. At the club fair I saw some people, including my friend Eddie, hitting around with field hockey stuff. Since Carleton's team was student-coached, co-ed, club, I figured I'd give it a shot to fill the time that Jazz Band was no longer taking up.

I wasn't all that good, but it was a lot of fun. We practiced 2-3 times per week, and, every Saturday, played against a club team from the Twin Cities that was a mixture of old and young American, British, Kenyan and Pakistani men and women. Because I wasn't all that athletic, they put me at defense, which I hated, but through a turn of events, I ended up at forward during a game at a tournament in Chicago and got an assist on a goal that gave us our first win in a few years, and then scored and assisted again in the next game. We had a winning record in the tournament for the first time ever. They let me play forward after that.

Field Hockey was also really fun for the social aspects of it. That's all I'll say here. At our team banquet, I ended up getting the "Rookie of the Year" award (though all of our awards were silly. Mine was a cherry made of construction paper, plus something else).

Fast forward a few years to my Maryland life. Field Hockey actually exists out here, and through a series of events, I became the Junior Varsity coach at my school, and I can honestly say it is my most favorite part of being here. Despite a long string of not very succesful seasons, I still get excited every time we take the field.

F - Football

Football: thing, sport

I'm not really a football fan. I'll root for the Vikings, provided that they are 1: Favre-less, and 2: winning, but beyond that I don't really care that much. The games are too long (especially the ending), I hate when they "take a knee", and the season is too short. Being only 16 games long, and only once a week means that when a team loses, the fans have to be grumpy for an entire week, and that the newspapers talk about the same crap for an entire week. Short seasons also mean that more is riding on each game, which means fans get even pissier when teams lose.

Throwing and catching a football, however, is pretty fun, though I'm not good at either. (despite a few miraculous and status-elevating catches in my middle-school gym/IM career).

SEE ALSO: intramurals, mud, boredom,

M - Metrodome

Metrodome - place

It may have been reviled by baseball purists, but I have fond memories of the Metrodome, and I'll miss it next year. I liked the Big Blue Baggie, the old plexi-glass and the wind that pushed you out of the doors at the end of the game. Outdoor baseball is nice, but when you have to travel 3 hours to get to a game, the threat of rain-out (or snow-out if it's play-off/world series season) is a real deterrent. I don't care if they're ugly, Minnesota needs a retractable roof.

I liked that it pretty much remained the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (named to honor a person, rather than advertise a sponsor). I saw a World Series Game and an ALCS game in the Dome. I sat in a luxury box (and a press-box, but that was for football, and was a debacle). And I'm proud of the Twins undefeated-at-the-dome World Series record.

Like it or hate it, the 'Dome was the 10th man for the Twins, and, as pretty as the house that Joe Better Build is going to be, I think it will take away soem of that home-team advantage that the Twins used to have. I'm also biased, because I think that all of the new-style super-ballparks are way too theme-park-ish (all you need for food is Natchos, Frosty Malts, Hotdogs, Peanuts etc. and over-priced beer... you're going to a Baseball Game to watch Baseball, not out to a fancy dinner). I'm not big on the gimmickness of many of them. I'll reserve Judgement on Target Corporation (tm) Corporate Ball Field until I see a game there.

(I do have to say, despite being the home of the Orioles, Camden is decent for a new-style ballpark.)

SEE ALSO: Noise, Baseball, Home Shopping,

S - Skiing, Alpine

S - Skiing, Alpine: thing, activity

I used to downhill ski a lot. My mom worked at Spirit Mountain for most of my youth, so I got Season Passes and often had a ride to the hill. In 5th grade, when it became clear that I had no future in Hockey, I followed the lead of my friend Scott and quit hockey to ski.

I remember starting to ski right around the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. I wanted to be Swiss skier Pirmin Zurbriggen (because his name was cool).

I had a pair of purple Blizzards. Then I got a pair of Saloman Force9s.

Once I started doing debate in HS, my winter weekends were taken up and my skiing became less frequent. I don't think I've been downhill skiing in 10 years.

SEE ALSO: Skiing, XC; Skiing, Water; Spirit Mountain, Girls

F - Frisbee

Frisbee: thing

I wasn't very good at throwing frisbees when I was younger. The college I went to treated Ultimate Frisbee like religion, so of course I had to be rebellious and be part of the 15% of the student body that didn't play organized Ultimate. I'll play it now though, but not seriously.

I have two glow-in-the-dark frisbees and I like them. one of them used to have a shiny red bomb on it, but some kids temporarily lost it in a lake and the sand wore it down.


SEE ALSO: Razor, Disc Golf, Carleton